Safety control bag for children



June 11, 1963 A. M. BAILEY SAFETY CONTROL BAG FOR CHILDREN Filed July 24, 1961 ADELINE M. BAILEY IN VEN TOR. M

A T TORNE Y FIG Unite States Patent 3,093,132 SAFETY CONTROL BAG FOR CHILDREN Adeline M. Bailey, 13104 64th Ave. S., Seattle 88, Wash. Filed July 24, 1961, Ser. No. 126,039 2 Claims. (Cl. 128-134) This present invention relates in general to sleeping bags for the restraint and security of infants and small children and especially to a bag for their safety control.

The general problem of securing children and particularly young children and infants in their beds for naps, sleeping and the like has always posed a perplexing problem. Many devices have been conceived with the general plan of securing a child so that he will keep under the covers provided and generally be protected against accidental choking or other constrictions caused by the child naturally turning over or endeavoring to turn over during his sleep or during the restless hours preceding or at the end of his nap. Further, this device is not only a sleeping bag but also a combination protective means and a safety control bag to prevent children from falling out of or off of a bed and from actually getting out of bed when their parents think they are in bed. This present safety control bag has the required facilities to secure the bottom margin of the bag in place, leaving the infant or child free to turn or twist consider-ably in the upper portion of the bag. Restraining equipment of this order is of course subject to soil and wetting and must therefore be of a matereial that can be readily laundered and should preferably be lightweight in those areas where temperatures are relatively high. It is believed that this present safety control bag meets the major requirements of this service and at least provides a very satisfactory compromise solution of the problem encountered.

The principal object of this present invention, therefore is to provide a safety control bag for children which will restrain the child in a manner causing the very minimum of interference with his activity prior to, during, or in the period after he awakens from a nap.

A further object of this invention is to provide for an infant or small child, an enclosing bag which is reinforced at all points where excess strain may occur and which permits that the balance of the bag structure be of a weight of material that can be either heavy for cold weather or extremely light for use during hot weather.

A further object of the invention is the provision for reinforcing the lower margin of the bag and having duplicate securing tapes secured to this reinforcement in pairs to each corner of the bag so that these tie-down tapes may be angularly disposed with respect to each other so as to definitely maintain the lower bag margin in place.

A further object of this invention is to provide a slide fastener closure member for the back of the bag and to have tie means of sufiicient width, disposed at the upper end, to prevent the child from tampering with the slide member of the slide fastener.

Further objects, advantages and capabilities will be apparent from the disclosure in the drawings or may be comprehended or are inherent in the device:

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view illustrating the back surface of my safety control bag for children.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view showing the conventional infants crib or bed and illustrating the manner in which this control bag is employed.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view illustrating the back of the bag as applied to an infant and illustrating the general proportions thereof.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIGURE 1 FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary view showing a short sleeve arrangement for use with my control bag.

Referring to the drawings, throughout which like reference numerals indicate like parts, the numeral 10 designates generally the bag portion of my safety control arrangement. The bag may be variously constructed; however, one desirable way is to provide a piece of material twice as long as the bag which is folded at the shoulders 15 so as to provide a shoulder of one layer of material without seams. For certain of the lightweight materials that may be desirable for use in warm climates it may be desirable to form the bag from two pieces of material which are joined with a seam at 15 and may be additionally reinforced by binding material or, as an alternate in the one piece of material form, the binding material in the form of tape may be employed without any scam in the material, merely to join the sleeve openings 12 and 14. One desirable form of construction is indicated in section in FIGURE 4 wherein the material has been shown as having the reinforcing tape 16 stitched in between the two fabric edges 18 at the armhole and 20 at the neck.

The back is provided with a conventional form of slide fastener v22 employing the usual slider 24. It is desirable that the slide fastener extend well towards the bottom of the bag in the proportions substantially as illustrated in FIGURE 1. This is desirable as it does not therefore become involved with the reinforcing material 26 which is preferably sewed into the bottom of the bag to take the strain of the tie-down straps. In carrying out the general objects of this invention it is preferred that the hold-down straps be applied in pairs as 30 and 31 on one corner and 32 and 33 on the opposite corner. These straps are preferably stitched through the reinforcing material 26 which is applied to each surface of the bag. This involves the front panels, as divided by the slider 34 and 35, and the back portion 36. With this form of construction it follows that the actual tiedown of the bag is a very secure one and one which can be applied to bags made of any of the various types of materials that are indicated by choice or particularly by the climatic conditions under which the same are used. This is especially necessary when the lightweight fabrics are employed as in humid and warm climates as otherwise the lightweight material which might be desirable for the body of the bag would not provide the actual safety control which relies largely on the securing of the bottom of the bag in a definite position. In FIGURE 2 this is believed clearly apparent especially the use of the four straps, each of them on either of the sides spread at an angle so as to definitely fix the attachment points as 40 and 42. This of course is the only part of the bag that is secured to the childs crib and it may be equally well secured to any size bed by the use of the tie-down extensions as 44 and 46 which may be conveniently added to the usual length of tie-down straps or tapes.

In considering the upper portion of the bag it has been found desirable to reinforce or bind the neck 20 so as to secure the neckline against stretching or tearing of the material and to similarly reinforce the arm openings 12 and 14 which should be of a size to just encircle the arm comfortably. A detachable short sleeve 13 may be employed, having an elastic band at 17, to be used for children who are difiicult to control. Then, as previously pointed out, the reinforcing material 16, preferably stitched to panels 34, 35 and 36 and joining the arm outlet reinforcements and the neck reinforcements secures the upper end of the bag against undue distortion and particularly against tearing which many times causes 3 serious accidents if a child accidently passes his head through a tear in such a way that in turning, constriction or choking may occur. Preferably the upper portion of the bag should loosely fit the childs torso which makes it more diflicult for him to withdraw his arms through the arm openings 12 and 14.

In any garment where a slide fastener is employed there is always the possibility of the child manipulating the slide fastener, thus opening the garment so as to defeat its purpose and to possibly endanger himself. To circumvent such a possibility I have provided ties for the neck opening indicated at 50 and 52. One of these, as 50, is preferably provided with a wide cover portion 53 to generously cover the slider so that it will not be available for manipulation by the child when the slide 24 of the slide fastener is in place in the closed position.

The preferred form of my safety control bag is tapered in a converging manner from bottom to top so that the shoulder portion of the bag, indicated generally at 15, will be a reasonably close fit for the child. It is realized that a device of this kind must be made sufficiently generous in size to lit the full range of children or infants, which preferably are divided into these two categories, and bags of at least two sizes should be provided. The purpose of the plurality of sizes is to insure that the upper portion of the bag fit the child sulficiently close so that he cannot by any distortion get his head through the head opening or retract an arm through the arm opening. On the other hand it is even more desirable that the lower portion of the bag be generously cut so that the legs can be spread as is common with children or so that it is possible for the child to turn over as many do, using a semi-kneeling position in which the buttocks are raised from the mattress. When this position is as.- sumed there will be a moderate pressure on one shoulder so that instinctively the child will have a tendency to turn away from this pressure and thus straighten out the bag, insuring the proper positioning of the child at all times.

It is believed that it will be clearly apparent from the above description and the disclosure in the drawings that the invention comprehends a novel construction of safety control for children.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A safety control bag for children, comprising: a generally rectangular bag having a closed bottom and reinforcing means secured across the bottom and between the back and front sides of said bag; said bag having an upper portion of reduced width; said upper portion of a size to substantially fit the childs torso and having arm openings provided with peripheral reinforcement; said upper portion closed across shoulder sections and having a reinforced contoured neck opening openable by a slide fastener; said slide fastener extending substantially the length of said bag on the back side of said bag; ties at the upper end of said fastener, at least one of which having increased width at the attached end to cover the slide member thereof when said fastener is closed to prevent an enclosed child from opening said slide fastener; tiedown tapes secured to each bottom corner of said bag and comprising two tapes at each corner spaced apart by said bag and said bottom reinforcement and means for extending the length of said tie-down tapes.

2. The subject matter of claim 1 in which said arm openings are provided with short removable sleeves, the lower ends of which have elastic bands to insure yieldable encirclement of the arms of a child and assist in preventing the child from drawing its arms through said arm openings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,130,771 Mann Sept. 20, 1938 2,419,989 Day May 6, 1947 2,429,168 Padgett Oct. 14, 1947 2,478,239 Chinn Aug. 9, 1949 2,530,606 Farrington Nov. 21, 1950 2,535,936 Langley Dec. 26, 1950 2,828,738 Strelakos Apr. 1, 1958 2,888,009 Taylor May 26, 1959 

1. A SAFETY CONTROL BAG FOR CHILDREN, COMPRISING: A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR BAG HAVING A CLOSED BOTTOM AND REINFORCING MEANS SECURED ACROSS THE BOTTOM AND BETWEEN THE BACK AND FRONT SIDES OF SAID BAG; SAID BAG HAVING AN UPPER PORTION OF REDUCED WIDTH; SAID UPPER PORTION OF A SIZE TO SUBSTANTIALLY FIT THE CHILD''S TORSO AND HAVING ARM OPENINGS PROVIDED WITH PERIPHERAL REINFORCEMENT; SAID UPPER PORTION CLOSED ACROSS SHOULDER SECTIONS AND HAVING A REINFORCED CONTOURED NECK OPENING OPENABLE BY A SLIDE FASTENER; SAID SLIDE FASTENER EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY THE LENGTH OF SAID BAG ON THE BACK SIDE OF SAID BAG; TIES AT THE UPPER END OF SAID FASTENER, AT LEAST ONE OF WHICH HAVING INCREASED WIDTH AT THE ATTACHED END TO COVER THE SLIDE MEMBER THEREOF WHEN SAID FASTENER IS CLOSED TO PREVENT AN ENCLOSED CHILD FROM OPENING SAID SLIDE FASTENER; TIEDOWN TAPES SECURED TO EACH BOTTOM CORNER OF SAID BAG AND COMPRISING TWO TAPES AT EACH CORNER SPACED APART BY SAID BAG AND SAID BOTTOM REINFORCEMENT AND MEANS FOR EXTENDING THE LENGTH OF SAID TIE-DOWN TAPES. 